Historically, package delivery systems rely on a spoke-hub distribution model. For example, to ship a package between an origin and destination, a vehicle has to pick-up the parcel and deliver it to a sorting center before commencing a final delivery destination. This model works well for reducing the cost of shipment when it is possible to aggregate packages that share a big part of the journey from origin to destination. However, it becomes inefficient, if the ability to aggregate packages is diminished because of a lack of proximity between delivery destinations. Further inefficiencies are apparent when transportation infrastructure itself does not allow for direct routes between an origin and destination.
The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) can overcome some of these inefficiencies by leveraging more flexible aerial transportation paths between destinations, rather than relying on rigid road infrastructure. Flexible flight plans allow for more direct delivery routes, and in some cases, an aggregation of more packages that share delivery destinations that are in close proximity to one another. However, the use of UAVs presents their own inefficiencies. In order to deliver a package to a destination, a UAV is required to ‘drop off’ the package. Traditionally, this involves the UAV landing at the destination, releasing the package, and then taking off to its next destination. The sequence of landing and taking off for each package delivery creates time and energy resource inefficiencies, which negate at least a portion of the benefit of adopting a network system of UAVs.